There are some issues that cut across language, culture and geography. Our occasional series, Here, There, examines how other countries approach these universal questions. We’ve looked at everything from gay soldiers in the United Kingdom's military to public transit in Bogotá. Perhaps there's something about Australia's experience with the invasive cane toad that we can apply to Lake Michigan's Asian carp problem. At the very least -- amidst the differences that make us American or Korean or Russian -- these stories are intended to remind us that the human experience is a shared one.

The Supreme Court's recent decision forbidding government to ban corporate spending in candidate elections has major implications for elections in this country. Today, we're looking at how other countries conduct their elections and how the flow of money affects the political process.

Last month, the Supreme Court weighed in on a very contentious issue in American politics: money. They ruled that the government cannot ban corporations from funding candidate elections, arguing it was a violation 1st amendment rights.

In the 1980s, Malaysia was a fledgling democracy with something to prove. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wanted the Southeast Asian nation to become a major player on the international scene. He decided what the country needed was a national automaker.

Originally family-run, France took over the Renault in the economic uncertainty following the Second World War. It ran the company profitably for years before it was privatized in the 1990s. Jacques Le Cacheux is the Director of the Economic Research Department at Science-Po in Paris.

To rescue the automaker from collapse, the U.S. government purchased sixty percent of General Motors (GM) stock. In less than a month, GM went in and out of bankruptcy. Government-appointed CEO Fritz Henderson says the “new GM” will be a leaner, greener company.

Like Africa, most of the Arab world considers homosexuality perverse. In Saudi Arabia, it's punishable by death. But there are pockets of tolerance, one example is Beirut, home to one of the region's only gay neighborhoods.

South Africa is the only country on the African continent and one of only a few nations worldwide that allows gays to marry. Like many rights issues in the U.S., the debate first surfaced in the courts, when a lesbian couple argued it was unconstitutional to prohibit them from marrying.